Arvind aims to double textile business revenue in 5 years

Textiles maker Arvind Ltd is planning to invest Rs. 500 cr per annum for the next 4-5 years with an aim to double revenue from its textile business to Rs. 12,000 cr. The company is in the process of de-merging its brands and engineering businesses into separate entities.

“In the last 5-6 years we have not put much capital in the textile business. We are very excited about textiles… we see tremendous growth opportunities… This capex will take the business from a single digit growth rate at present in to double digit growth rate. “We are planning to double our textile business from Rs. 6,000 cr to Rs. 12,000 cr in 5 years’ time. We plan to invest Rs. 500 cr every year for the next five years to expand its textile business,” Arvind Ltd. Executive Director Kulin Lalbhai told. The company will fund the expansion from internal cash flows.

“We are looking dramatic ramp up in garmenting (making garments from fabrics) from 10 per cent at present to 50 per cent over time. A big chunk of this planned investment will be for garmenting,” he added. The company is also looking at developing three large garment clusters in Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat. Each of these clusters will employ 4,000-8,000 workers. It already has a cluster operational in Ethiopia in Africa, which the company uses to reach out to America and European markets.

“All of these clusters are in execution mode. By end of the third quarter or beginning of fourth quarter we will begin work in Jharkhand and Gujarat. Cluster in Andhra Pradesh will take a few more quarter to be operational. These clusters will be like a global supply chain,” Lalbhai said. Arvind Ltd is also planning to foray into performance and functional clothing (active wear) and synthetics. It is also considering scaling up its technical textiles businesses. Lalbhai said the de-merger process, after which all the three businesses will be listed separately, will be complete by end of the third quarter of this fiscal.